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Investigation of charcoal cloth as a sorbent for integrated sampling of solvent vapors in mixed-expired breath using a new stainless steel sampler.

A solid sorbent sampler for direct sampling of large volumes of mixed expired breath was described. Samples were collected on wafers of charcoal cloth sorbent, a carbonized viscose rayon fabric, that readily retained its mechanical integrity after being cut into wafers. The reported surface area of the charcoal cloth sorbent was 1300 square meters/gram, comparable to that of coconut shell charcoal. The charcoal cloth was evaluated as a sorbent for sampling solvents present in expired breath. Solvents used in the study included 1,1,1-trichloroethane (71556), ethyl-acetate (141786), n-hexane (110543), methylene-chloride (75092), 2-butanol (71363), methyl-isobutyl-ketone (108101), and isopropanol (67630). The concentrations sampled ranged from 2.2 to 190mg/m3 for 1,1,1- trichloroethane and from 0.44 to 35.6mg/m3 for m-xylene. Adequate sensitivity for analysis of the samples was produced by the desorption of samples in carbon-disulfide and analysis using gas chromatography with a flame ionization detector if the volume of desorption solvent ranged from 1.7 to 2.5 milliliters per wafer of cloth. Storage for 1 to 8 days did little to affect the quantitative recovery of either analyte. Recovery ranged from 78 to 103 percent of trace quantities of five representation compounds when the cloth was stored for 10 to 17 days if the samples were desorbed with carbon-disulfide.